Borderline Personality Disorder

What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Self-Mutilation in Borderline Personality Disorder

Self-mutilation is one of the major characteristics of borderline personality. People with borderline personality disorder feels the urge to hurt the self, either by cutting the wrist many times in a single day or once every day. The reason why borderline personalities do this remains unclear. For some reason, it is associated with a kind of desperate effort to manipulate other people into conforming to their unrealistic demands (e.g., a patient requiring two or more clinical sessions with a therapist simply because he had his life centered around her); to get relief from stress or anxiety (e.g., feeling of dysphoria or analgesia, that is, numbness against pain); or, just a way to punish the self (e.g., some self-mutiliating behaviors actually result to completing suicide).

Search for "borderline personality disorder diagnostic test" and you will find many littered across the net. From the seemingly "authoritative" ones to the not-so and funny ones. This is because it is fairly easy to create your own quiz. Just read some articles about borderline personality disorder, search for a quiz maker, and whoala! A brand new borderline personality disorder diagnostic test. However, that does not help people who are looking for genuine information, and even those who are desperate in trying to confirm their own diagnosis. Putting intentions aside, how come there are just so many tests on borderline personality disorder? In this article, I plan to look for possible reasons why quizzes on borderline personality disorder proliferate the net.

People with borderline personality disorder like to confirm their diagnosis. No matter how irrational it may seem, they may create their own quiz, advertise it through a network of friends or acquaintances, and see if some of them qualify for a similar diagnosis. They will surely also take the test themselves, and surely they will also interestingly find themselves choosing the wrong answers. For example, inability to form lasting relationships is both a test and symptom of borderline personality disorder, as with inability to form a stable identity. People with borderline personality disorder will find joy just seeing how pervasive the problem could be, and at the same time, they will be surprised to realize that they can't provide reliable answers to such questionnaires (because of their unstable self-perception).

Some people just like to attract a wave of visitors and subscribers. Who does not want to know if one qualifies for borderline personality disorder, and perhaps, in a list of personality disorders? People are curious, especially adolescents who are in the stage of finding and forming their identities. Businessmen like to use tests catered to the impulsive public to introduce and advertise their products online. This does not mean that such practices are bad, but it does not bring much good to people who desperately want to know if they have borderline personality disorder.

Therapists and mental health professionals, or a group of such, just need a little advertisement. Practitioners trained in the field of mental health know that people with personality disorders are generally shy in looking for specialized help. In an effort to attract long-term clients (because treatment for personality disorders last looooonger than usual), they may develop such tests to reach to the unreachable and advertise their names, groups, or associations. Again, this is not evil, in a sense, but they are nonetheless counterproductive because these same mental health professionals understand the concepts of validity and reliability in diagnostic tests - the very same concepts not supported in free online questionnaires.

So should you still use such diagnostic tests, especially in checking whether you have borderline personality disorder or not? Sure. These free surveys are still useful in many ways. First, just a happy comparison among your friends. Second, an introduction to the world of personality disorders. Some just don't know that they exist until they took the test and gained some insight from the questions. Third and last, as a simple flag to trigger concern, action, and responsibility for taking care of your mental health.

Borderline Personality Disorder Patient Information

Diagnosis of mental disorders is usually done by a licenced clinician and/or psychiatrist. As with other medical information, borderline personality disorder patient information is guarded under the ethical and legal value of privacy and anonymity. However, what would a typical patient information for borderline personality disorder looks like?

Some of the most pertinent information for the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder are the following: age, sex, signs and symptoms required to meet the criteria, comorbid disorders, and some physical factors, such as medications currently taken. Basically, the prototype borderline personality disorder patient information contains the following records listed below. They also correspond to questions typically contained in any borderline personality disorder test.

Female. Females outnumber males three times.

Impulsiveness. Reckless and thoughtless behaviors characterize people with borderline personality disorder. These traits of borderline personality disorder often results to financial and social problems. In some cases, it also causes accidents for people with borderline personality disorder and those immediately surrounding them.

Inappropriate Anger. People with borderline personality disorder are easily provoked even with innocent and neutral remarks. They tend to be sent to anger management workshops even before getting proper diagnosis.

Drastic Mood Shifts. People with borderline personality disorder are not just easily angered, they can also go from being extremely happy to extremely angry or sad.

Chronic Feelings of Boredom. People with borderline personality disorder are typically bored in life. They have this chronic feeling of emptiness because of social isolation - they tend to push people away with their demanding and inconsistent attitudes.

Attempts at Self-Mutilation or Suicide. This is the single most important criterion for borderline personality disorder. Although depression-induced suicide is common among people with borderline personality disorder, repetitive attempts to significantly hurt the self, possibly for manipulating other people or out of extreme anger, is unique in this disorder. The situations and precipitating factors for such attempts are important to be identified because it helps in the formation of treatment, particularly if the clinician or psychiatrist uses a behavioral approach.

Psychotic Episodes. Hallucinations, paranoid ideas, body image distortions, and dissociative symptoms are present in about 20 to 40 percent of borderline patients. These psychotic-like episodes are believed to be linked to suicidal attempts; it is therefore important that this factor be identified.

Attributed Cause/s. Borderline personality disorder is believed to be caused by biological and/or psychosocial factors, especially trauma and neglect during childhood. Identifying these causes, particularly the psychosocial ones, are especially important for clinicians and psychiatrists with psychodynamic training to find closure in such unresolved concerns.

A clinician or psychiatrist may collect further data for a comprehensive look into a particular case of borderline personality disorder. Some books containing detailed accounts of such cases can provide insight to what clinicians usually ask for. They can also shed light into how psychiatrists use them to develop and customize treatment for individual cases.

Borderline Personality Disorder Relationship Problems

Relationship problems of people with borderline personality disorder involve bitterness and fear of abandonment, originating from an unstable self-image, impulsivity and self-destructive behaviors.

Borderline personality disorder is commonly associated with relationship problems that are both intense and rocky. People with borderline personality disorder, at the start of the relationship, often look up to their friends and lovers, as if putting them in a pedestal and over-showering them with praise and adoration. However, as the relationship progresses, they begin to see flaws and criticize their friends and lovers. They then become domineering and even demanding of their attention. At some point, they feel betrayed because the initial high impression turned out to be a failed expectation. However, people with borderline personality disorder fear abandonment. Even when they find out that friends and lovers can't measure up to their expectations, they may hold on to the relationship until the other persons complain or give up of their overly demanding and intense actions. They can be easily irritated and angry, but also easily switch to passive and submissive mood when faced with the prospect of being left alone.

Relationship problems in borderline personality disorder can be traced from the person's unstable sense of self. In one end, a person with borderline personality disorder may feel superior or grandiose; and yet on the other end, he/she may feel inferior, lacking, or incomplete. As a result, friends or lovers revert to and fro a high or low social standing in line with the person's mood swings. Whenever the person with borderline personality disorder feels down, friends and lovers rise up; and whenever the same person feels high, friends and lovers are looked down upon.

People with borderline personality disorder also tend to be impulsive and engage in self-destructive behaviors. They may drink alcohol excessively, engage in substance abuse, or gamble pathologically (at the risk of getting broke). This often occurs when they feel down or low. At first, friends and lovers may get worried; but as the pattern emerges and becomes resistant to any form of persuasion, including unnecessary bursts of uncontrolled and intense anger, friends and lovers may become impatient, upset, and hostile. Oftentimes, friends and lovers of people with borderline personality disorder "give up" and leave.

If you are in a relationship with a similar person, and you truly love that person, you would benefit from knowing more about him/her and his/her personality problem. Help from a clinical psychologist is also useful and sometimes imperative if the person is having bouts of suicidal attempts.

Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Checklist

I have developed a simple symptoms checklist for borderline personality disorder below. This checklist has by no means established reliability and validity in terms of testing. As such, it only serves to complement knowledge of the prototype patient information of borderline personality disorder.

Instruction: Answer the following questions with a "yes" and a "no".

Have you ever acted in an impulsive way? Can you think of some instances in your life in which you acted recklessly and thoughtlessly? (Give yourself 1 point if you answered "yes".)

Have you ever been inappropriately angry? Can you think of some instances in your life in which you displayed extreme anger that is beyond the normal expectations of the people around you? (Give yourself 1 point if you answered "yes".)

Do you experience drastic shifting of moods? Can you think of some instances in your life in which you swung from a positive (happy) mood to a negative (sad/angry) mood quite easily? (Give yourself 1 point if you answered "yes".)

Do you often feel bored or empty inside? Can you think of some instances in your life in which you find yourself living aimlessly and without purpose? Can you consider these instances as generally chronic or long-lasting? (Give yourself 1 point if you answered "yes".)

Have you ever attempted to hurt yourself? Can you think of two or more instances in your life in which you tried to kill yourself? (Give yourself 3 points if you answered "yes".)

Interpretation: 4 or more points could probably mean that you have borderline personality disorder.

Besides the symptoms outlined above, it is sometimes imperative to have an understanding of the etiology of borderline personality disorder because treatment sometimes require individual customization to achieve even the modest results.

Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Diagnosis

Diagnosing personality disorders is a difficult task because they often co-occur with each other, and their traits are also similar in some occasions. For example, some symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder are also observable in histrionic personality disorder. Furthermore, it is often difficult to delineate the boundary between what kind of personality is considered a disorder and what is not. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association lists symptoms commonly identified within the different kinds of personality disorders. However, these symptoms remain controversial, but nonetheless functional. It is best, therefore, to view personality disorders as prototypal and not categorical. The same should also be the approach when it comes to diagnosing specific personality disorders.

In order to diagnose borderline personality disorder, the clinician should look at a constellation of characteristics. These characteristics generally revolve around three dimensions, that is, problematic behavior in relationships, self-image, and emotions. Borderline personality disorder causes are sometimes investigated to shed light into the diagnosis and treatment of borderline personality disorder. For example, childhood trauma is often a good predictor of the development of borderline personality disorder. Although the diagnosis of BPD does not necessarily require such causes to be identified, they serve as justifying factors for diagnosis and important factor for customizing treatment. Remember that personality disorders are prototypal, and that not all people who have borderline personality disorder exhibit all the symptoms listed in DSM.

So what symptoms are important for the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder? Here's the list:

a history of relationship difficulties (i.e., a highly demanding attitude)

struggle for self-identity

shifting moods

easily provoked anger

thoughtless and impulsive behaviors

self-hurting activities (e.g., cutting wrists and suicide attempts)

Childhood Trauma in Borderline Personality Disorder

Childhood trauma in borderline personality disorder is perhaps the most cited psychosocial cause of the problematic personality. People with borderline personality disorder typically report a large number of childhood trauma, too large and significant enough compared to those people who developed healthy personalities and even those with other types of personality disorders. These kinds of trauma include physical and emotional abuse, the latter including early separation or loss, and may stem from parental mental disorders as well. Although not all children who experienced abuse and neglect ended up with a borderline personality disorder, it is alarming to note that around 90 percent of people with borderline personality disorder reported some form of childhood abuse.

It is quite easy to make sweeping conclusions, but such statistics is not enough proof that childhood trauma is definitely a causal factor for the development of borderline personality disorder. Why? There are several things to keep in mind. First, statistics is basically retrospective in nature. Because people with borderline personality disorder have characteristically distorted and unstable views about life and others in general, their past memories may not also be consistent with reality. Thus, results from retrospective studies may not be reliable. Second, some other factors relating to childhood abuse may be considered as more important causes. Such factors include family problems - relationship and financial status - and even the child's temperament. For example, abuse and neglect may occur in such contexts, or that a difficult and problematic child elicits abusive behaviors from parents. Whatever the reasons are, it remains important for psychiatrists and clinicians to continue identifying these childhood traumas to further shed light into the dynamics of borderline personality disorder.

The importance of identifying the role of childhood trauma in borderline personality disorder is evident in clinicians practicing using the psychodynamic perspective. Borderline personality disorder treatments include therapy and medications. Psychodynamic therapy involves a comprehensive understanding and proper resolution of rooted childhood conflicts. Thus, identifying these childhood traumas is vital in treatment. Borderline personality disorder treatment medication, although helpful in initially reducing suicidal behavior, is believed to be unreliable and not effective in the long-term, especially for the psychodynamic clinicians.

Is There a Cure for Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline personality disorder is a difficult condition. Most people ask if there is a cure for borderline personality disorder. This article explores the motivation behind such questions, the difficulty of cure, and the different kinds of cure for borderline personality disorder.

Yes, there is a cure for borderline personality disorder. BDD is one of the most researched of the types of personality disorders because it is also one of the most difficult to treat. Why? Personality disorders are generally difficult to treat because the disordered behavior is deeply ingrained within the personality makeup, which, in turn, was gradually developed through childhood and adolescence up to the young adulthood stage. Personalities are generally stable, and so with personality disorders. But what makes borderline personality disorder exceptionally more difficult to treat than the rest? The answer is this: BDD is characterized with intense conflict between two important opposing forces in the human psyche. A person with borderline personality disorder walks in a slim pole balancing these forces in terms of the person's identity, mood, and relationships. Simply put, people with borderline personality disorder are difficult to treat because they see themselves in two different ways; they feel two different moods at the same time; and they relate to others in two different patterns. For many normal people, these dialectics are but normal and can be easily resolved; but for the BDD patients, everything is just black or white, and they therefore find it impossible to deal with the problem by following the gray path. As a result, they may swing from one perspective to another, and thus fall from the slim pole in which they stand. Interestingly, however, that despite this rather bleak nature of borderline personality disorder is a cure. Indeed, after many decades, psychologists and psychiatrists have found a cure - or rather, several cures - for the disorder. Let's enumerate them here.

The cure (or cures) follows the identified symptoms and etiology of borderline personality disorder. This means that the cure largely depends upon the observed symptoms and causes of the problem. Basically, cure boils down into prevention, reduction, and maintenance. As with other types of personality disorders, there are two ways to cure borderline personality disorder - through the use of drugs and psychotherapy. Classes of drugs that are currently being utilized to cure borderline personality disorder are antidepressants and antipsychotics. Psychotherapeutic cure for borderline personality disorder includes psychoanalysis and the recently developed dialectical behavior therapy. Psychoanalysis aims to empower the ego to take charge of automatic splitting action against the id. Splitting refers to the defensive action of the ego to categorize events as either this or that, no in-betweens. Through psychoanalysis, the individual learns to integrate these two opposing dimensions into a cohesive whole, and thus lead to the formation of a stable identity, stable emotions, and stable relationships. Dialectical behavior therapy, on the other hand, is concerned about reducing the suicidal motives of the person, encouraging the person to cooperate in the treatment procedure, helping the person to regulate mood and manage anger, teaching the person social skills, and exposing the person to an environment filled with acceptance and compassion, such values that are believed to be largely missing in the person's life.

The effectiveness of the cure for borderline personality disorder is not yet well established as results are mostly modest in nature. To complicate things, people with personality disorders rarely seek help for their problems because they do not think that they do have a problem. As a result, some people with borderline personality disorder practice self-help. As you can see, some even try to look for support in the internet, as with the proliferation of so-called antisocial personality disorder forums and chat rooms for people with borderline personality disorder. The efficacy of such self-help practices cannot be established, however, because of their lack of structure; however, it cannot be denied that a strong motivation is necessary for cure.

Male Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms

Male borderline personality disorder symptoms are basically similar to those of female's but are different only in the contexts and magnitude in which they occur.

Borderline personality disorder symptoms do not differ if the patient is a male or a female. As such, borderline personality disorder therapy does not necessarily differ if the patient is a female or a male. However, a borderline personality disorder therapist is often required to identify whether the patient is a male or a female not for the benefit of treatment, but for the benefit of future research. Such identifications result to statistics indicating that females develop BPD three times more than males do.

I haven't really come across a specific study on male borderline personality disorder, so in this article, I plan to enumerate my own hypotheses on how symptoms of borderline personality disorder manifest in males.

Impulsivity. Perhaps there is a higher incidence of accidents occurring in males with borderline personality disorder. This is because besides impulsive and reckless behaviors, male borderlines are also more aggressive than their female counterparts. Furthermore, road accidents are collectively the most common cause of death for young men. Couple this with heightened impulsivity in borderlines and you see a high rate of death from accidents in this minority.

Disproportionate anger. Females are blessed with verbal and interpersonal skills, while males are mostly capable of activities that are physical in nature. I think that the magnitude and quantity of physical aspect in male borderline anger is much higher compared to female's. Furthermore, male borderline anger could possibly precipitate to unexpected fist fights and maybe even result to unplanned criminal offenses.

Suicide and self-destruction. As already mentioned above, males are generally more aggressive than females. Consequently, I think that males are more likely to hurt themselves more severely than females do, and that besides accidents, suicide attempts could also be one of the main causes of death in male borderline personality disorder.

Nice Borderline Personality Disorder

Niceness in borderline personality disorder is almost a rarity, because most people with this disorder generally found humanity unsatisfying and life markedly deviant from a supposed ideal. However, people with borderline personality disorder are viewed by some people as "nice". Why?

People with borderline personality disorder think in black and white. They are too hard on themselves and other people. They see people as either good or bad, nice or evil. They mostly strive to reach the ideal and find themselves and other people short of this standard. A borderline personality disorder sign is inability to control anger. And most people with this disorder are required to undergo anger management training because they tend to be impulsive and too easily provoked with criticisms. They can easily get angry and...happy. So how can a person with borderline personality disorder considered to be nice?

The struggle for idealism is high and is considered abnormal in borderline personality disorder because people with this disorder detest the wrong things that is happening in themselves, in others, and in the world. This "good" intention is seen by some intellectuals as positive. (Do you know that people with borderline personality disorder usually have an above average intelligence? Think Wolfgang Mozart.) However, because this struggle is difficult, it is also stressful, and in severe instances, depressing. It is when people with borderline personality disorder feel that they are short of their goal that they become reckless and angry!

People with borderline personality disorder like to help other people. This is not yet established in research, but their negative attitude about life can be transformed in the lens of psychodynamic perspective as a disheartened attempt towards helping the self. People with borderline personality disorder can be self-less, and when they do, they go the extremes to the point of putting others well beyond themselves, even neglecting their primary needs. In fact, one of the male borderline personality disorder symptoms is being too kind and thoughtful on a woman at the start of the relationship, but then becoming too angry and destructive when the woman falls short of the man's expectations.

It is oftentimes difficult to see the good in the bad. Shades of gray are unacceptable in people with borderline personality disorder. But everyone has the capacity to do and become "good." Our definition of good differs from one person to another. To a person with borderline personality disorder, "nice" is not just being polite, but an adjective only an ideal person can meet.

Searching for Borderline Personality Disorder Helpline

I was searching for "borderline personality disorder helpline" in the internet and found a lot of telephone lines that provide support and help for people suffering from mental disorders, that is, in general. I cannot find a telephone line that relates to personality disorders, or a specific type of personality disorder, so I am guessing that either these telephone lines assume you know your psychological problem (and perhaps gives instructions in matching professionals), or that they don't. If they think you know, that's good for you, because they then can redirect the call to an experienced and credible mental health professional; however, if you don't know your problem, then that is not good for both of you, because the so-called mental health professional on the other side of the line may not be so credible (that is, not a specialist). Why for the latter? Because how can a company afford to hire specialists to wait and answer calls from people, and to stop them from working in hospitals and establishing their own clinics? As a result, most helplines are using professionals with general training on counseling, and probably those who have not yet made a name for themselves. How does this impact the effectiveness of these so-called helplines? In this hub, I tackle the pros and cons of using such helplines, specifically for people with borderline personality disorder.

The Cons of Using Borderline Personality Disorder Helpline

Medical and therapeutic efforts for treating borderline personality disorder are at best modest. This means that even when treatment approach for borderline personality disorder uses a combination of drugs and intensive therapy, the results are not outstanding. What more for an impersonal and long-distance call?

Generally, professionals behind the phone are not trained to handle borderline cases. Presumably, some companies have adapted a "guide" to handle extreme cases like suicide that commonly surfaces in people with borderline personality disorder; however, research shows that suicide prevention is most effective with medication in the short-term and psychotherapy (specifically dialectical behavior therapy) in the long-term. That said, a short-term call is not sufficient in handling extreme bouts of behaviors characteristic of borderline personality disorder. Furthermore, even well-trained and well-learned mental health professionals in the area of borderline personality disorder are having modest results in their treatment approach. So what more can you expect from a general practitioner?

The Pros of Using Borderline Personality Disorder Helpline

Helplines are not out of reach. People with personality disorders generally are hesitant in looking for help because of two reasons: They do not think something is wrong with them; or, they think that no one will understand them. However, helplines give a sense of distance and objectivity. People with borderline personality disorder can feel safe talking to people they do not know and who probably don't know them either. People with borderline personality disorder can also perceive a sense of objectivity when talking about their problems.

Helplines are safe ways to test the waters. People with borderline personality disorder adopt an all-or-nothing approach; thus, helplines can reduce this black-or-white thinking by introducing shades of gray in problem solving.

Helplines serve as avenues to get further specialized help. This, I think, is the most important function of helplines. They serve as a bridge to connect that hesistant borderline with a therapist.

Helplines encourage people to talk. With anonymity in place, borderline personalities can freely talk about their dialectics - those conflicting things about life that frequently bother and annoy them. And if they decide to get in touch with a specialist, the specialist receives a ton of information beforehand and are at a greater advantage in treatment. Borderline personality disorder etiology refers to the precipitating factors in the development of borderline personality disorder. Childhood trauma in borderline personality disorder is the most cited factor. Identifying these factors can help in designing a customized therapy for prospective borderline clients.

Helplines can reduce suicidal impulses. But this is not directly by talking. "Professionals" behind the phone cannot stop this just by doing some tele-psychotherapy; they do this using delaying tactics. They may not be trained to prevent suicide attempts, but they are trained to delay such attempts and raise flags for ambulance and immediate medical help. They are also trained to distract the borderline client from attempting any destructive behavior.

Deciding which helpline to use is another matter. For people with borderline personality disorder, this could mean trying all helplines or not trying at all. If you have borderline personality disorder, I suggest trying just one and then giving it all. And then giving your best.

What is Borderline Personality Disorder? Plus More Symptoms of the Condition

There are currently 10 official types of personality disorders in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. In this hub, I plan to focus more on borderline personality disorder. Specifically, this section will try to answer the following questions:

What is borderline personality disorder?

What symptoms of the condition of borderline personality disorder are commonly observed?

What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline personality disorder is a type of personality disorder that belongs to cluster B, along with both histrionic and narcissistic personality disorders. (Cluster B personality disorders are those with behaviors typically involving superficial emotionality.) It involves volatile relationships, changing self-image, and drastic temper outbursts. It is because of the extreme unpredictability of people with this personality disorder that aptly calls it “borderline”. It seems that people with borderline personality disorder live life as if walking on a slim pole. Just one tilt and blag! Around 1.5 percent of the U.S. population have this disorder. Men outnumber women by three times!

The research literature for borderline personality disorder has little resemblance in the current diagnosis of the condition. It used to be associated with schizophrenia and was earlier thought of as "borderline schizophrenia", however, this association is not anymore applicable with modern theories and conceptual definitions of the condition.

What symptoms of the condition of borderline personality disorder are commonly observed?

Besides living through an unstable sense of self, lifestyle and moods, several important symptoms of the condition borderline personality disorder are observable. Generally, people with borderline personality disorder are reckless, have an unpredictable temperament, feel jaded and rigidly bored, and engage in self-injurious behaviors.

People with borderline personality disorder are reckless and irresponsible. They tend to fall for addiction and engage in hasty and thoughtless behaviors. It is because of their recklessness that most people with this condition get broke or end up in jail. It is also one of the reasons why they rate poorly in their close relations.

People with borderline personality disorder have an unpredictable temperament. They can alternate from one mood to another quite easily. They are also angered and provoked. And they may respond quite strongly and negatively.

People with borderline personality disorder feel jaded and rigidly bored. This is not the same as with depressed people who cannot seem to find enjoyment in life. For borderline patients, life is ugly, everything is negative, and "I am very angry at this!" For them, life has run out of its beauty. They think that because life is ugly, so should they be.

People with borderline personality disorder engage in self-injurious behaviors. They can be very self-destructive. Besides their reckless behaviors, they also tend to actively harm themselves. They are prone to cutting their wrists and even committing suicide. Some people with borderline personality disorder experience severe depression, but prominent symptoms are generally not considered "sad", but mostly "irritating" and "annoying."

These are some more of the symptoms of the condition of borderline personality disorder (i.e., besides the common "instability" problem. There are many methods to diagnose the condition. Borderline personality disorder tests found in the net may also be useful, but nothing beats professional help. If you think you qualify for most of the symptoms above, you might want to consider getting help.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does behavior therapy benefit people with borderline personality disorder?

What do the biological perspectives say about this disorder?

In which areas do people with this disorder tend to suffer the most?

What happens in the interpersonal relationships of people with BPD?

Does this disorder often occur in people who were sexually abused as children?

What are the similarities and differences of borderline personality disorder and dependent personality disorder?

What are the causal factors of BPD?

What are its characteristics?

Which disorders does it comorbid with?

What are the criteria for diagnosing this disorder?

What are its diagnostic features?

Are cases increasing? How about the severity? Do symptoms increase in intensity over time? Do symptoms become more frequent?

What are the prescribed medications for this disorder?

Is there any example of a psychological case study about it?

What are the different psychological perspectives about the disorder? How do these perspectives enrich the understanding of it?

Do people diagnosed with this disorder engage in the practice of self-mutilation?

What do the sociocultural perspectives say about the disorder?

What are the different theories and their corresponding treatments for BPD?

Which of these treatments for borderline personality disorder prove to be the most effective?